1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal device and an electronic apparatus.
2. Related Art
Examples of known liquid crystal devices include transverse electric field mode liquid crystal devices which can control the alignment of liquid crystal molecules by applying an electric field along the surface of a substrate to a liquid crystal layer. Further, IPS (In-Plane Switching) mode and FFS (Fringe-Field Switching) mode liquid crystal devices with different configurations of the electrodes which generate an electric field to be applied to liquid crystal are known. In recent years, in order to realize a wide viewing angle by means of a transverse electric field system, a transflective liquid crystal device to which the transverse electric field system is applied has been suggested (for example, see JP-A-2003-344837).
The liquid crystal device disclosed in JP-A-2003-344837 is a multi-gap-type liquid crystal device in which a liquid-crystal-layer thickness in a reflective display region and a liquid-crystal-layer thickness in a transmissive display region are made different from each other. In this case, the transverse electric field system is applied to only the transmissive display region or both the transmissive display region and the reflective display region. In a transflective liquid crystal device, the number of times display light passes through the liquid crystal layer differs in the transmissive display region and the reflective display region. Accordingly, it is necessary to adjust the retardation of the liquid crystal layer in both regions in order to obtain appropriate display. With the application of the multi-gap structure, it is possible to adjust the retardation of the liquid crystal layer. However, in the transverse electric field mode liquid crystal device, as the liquid-crystal-layer thickness changes, a threshold voltage (driving voltage) changes. Accordingly, it is difficult to obtain favorable display for both reflective display and transmissive display even when the multi-gap structure is applied.